Apparatus for decolorizing sugar-liquor by upward filtration through bone-black



(No Model.)

F. O. MATTHIESSEN.

APPARATUS FOR DEGOLORIZING SUGAR LIQUOR BY UPWARD FILTRATION THROUGH BONE BLACK.

No. 329,332. Patented Oct. 27, 1885.

N. PETERS PIMQ-Lilhugnphnr. Walhingmn. D4 Cv UNITED STATES *ATENT rricn.

FRANZ O. MATTHIESSEN, OF IRVINGTON, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR DECOLORIZING SUGAR-LlQUOR BY UPWARD FILTRATION THROUGH BONE-BLACK.

FJPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,332, dated October 27,1885,

Application filed August 20, 1885. Serial No. 174,866. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANZ O. lVIATTI-IIES mm, of Irvington, New York, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Effect ing the Decolorization of Sugar-Liquor by the Process of Upward Filtration through Bone- Black, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the apparatus for effecting the de colorization of sugar-liquor by the process of upward filtration through bone-black shown and described in my application for Letters Patenttherefor serially numbered 165,829 and filed May 18,1885. The apparatus referred to is of the type in which a horizontal rotating, supporting, and discharging instrumentality serves to support a column of bone-black con tained in a filtering-chamber, and to gradually remove from the bottom of the said column a stratum of bone-black of prescribed uniform thickness. The central portion of the said rotating, supporting, and discharging instrumentality being solid, has no capacity for discharging the superincumbent bone-black in vertical alignment with it. A part of the space immediately over the solid central portion of the discharger is occupied by the vertical shaft by means of which the discharger is rotated, but the remainder of such space is occupied by bone-black, which is but slightly, if at all, disturbed by the rotation of the discharger, and is henceliable to remain in the filtering-chamber after its decolorizing power has been exhausted.

To avoid this difficulty is the object of the first part of my invention, which consists in the erection of a columnar shield above the central solid portion of the discharger, which shield extends upward through the mass of bone-black contained in the filtering'ehamber. As the solid rim of the discharger extends under the lower end of the wall of the filtering-chamber and the cutting-edges of the slots or openings in the discharger act upon the entire bottom of the column of bone-black between the central columnar shield and the wall of the filtering-chamber, it follows that by my invention a vertical line drawn through any portion of the column of bone-black necessarily intersects at its lower end a part of the bottom stratum of bone-black, which is sup ported directly upon the discharger, and

which is removed by the rotation of the dis charger.

The second object which I have in view is to diminish the size of the receiving-chamber beneath the filtering-chamber, which receives the exhausted bone-black and collected impurities discharged from the filteringchamher, and into which the sugar-liquor which is to be decolorized is introduced under sufficient pressure or head to enable it to make its way upward through the column of boneblack to the outlets through which it escapes from the upper partof the filtering-chamber.

To this end the second part of the invention consists in the employment of a flat-bottomed receiving-chamber of comparatively small height, and of a rotating scraper or plow which is arranged beneath the discharger, and which operates to sweep the exhausted boneblack and impurities which fall upon the floor of the receiving-chamber into themouth of a conduit, which conducts them to a dcpository, in connection with which suitable means are provided forfinally removing them Without interrupting the continuity of the filtering operation.

The accompanying drawings of apparatus for effecting the decolorization of sugar-liquor by the process of upward filtration through bone-black, containing my improvements, are as follows:

Figure 1 is a central vertical section. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the line 00 m on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the line 1 g on Fig. 1.

The apparatus represented in the drawings consists of the vertical cylinder A, for containing a column, B, of boneblack which is supported at the bottom upon the supporter and discharger O, by the rotation of which a stratum of bone-black of prescribed uniform thickness is sheared or out off from the lower end of the column B and falls through openings in the discharger into the flat-bottomed receivingchamber D. The sugar-liquor to be decolorized is introduced through the servicepipe E into the receiving-chamber D under sufficient pressure to enable it to make its way upward through the openings in the dis charger and through the bone-black support ed thereon to the outlets a, by which it escapes to the receptacle provided for it. The

portion of the cylinder A beneath the level of theoutlets a and above the supporterand discharger G constitutes the filtering-chamber A. The upper portion, A of the cylinder A is a magazine for containing a supply of fresh bone-black,whih descends by its own gravity into the filtering-chamber at a rate corresponding to the rate of removal of the bone-black from the bottom of the column by the operation of the discharging instrumentality. The supporter and discharger G is a disk or wheel, which is provided between its rim 0 and its hub O with radial slots or openings, the side walls of which are inclined and differin height, the higher wall sufficiently overlapping the lower to prevent the superincumbent bone black from falling through the slots excepting during the rotatory movement of the discharger, when the upper edge of the higher wall serves as a cutter and cuts away from the bottom of the column of boneblack a stratum whose thickness is determined by the difference in level between the acute upper edge on one side of the slot and the obtuse upper edge on the other side of the slot. The diameter of the supporter and discharger is greater than the diameter of the cylinder A, so that the rim G of the former may extend under the annular top d of the outer portion of the receivjug-chamber D. The field of action of the diseharger extends from thelower end of the wall of the filtering chamber to the unslotted central portion or hub,0",of the discharger. Immediately over the hub O of the discharger is the columnar shield Ewhich extends upward through the center of the column of boneblack contained in the filtering-chamber. The shield F may be the shaft to which the discharger is keyed, and by means of which the discharger is rotated, or it may be a tube surrounding the said shaft; or, as represented in the drawings, itmay be a tube stepped at its lower end upon the hub O of the discharger O, keyed to the upper portion of the vertical shaft G, extending downward through the receiving-chamber D and the stuffing-box G in the floor d of the receiving-chamber, and provided with a bevel-gear, G for engagement with the bevel spur-wheel G, mounted upon the horizontal driving shaft G. In either event the diameter of all parts of the columnar shield must be as great as the diameter of the unslotted central portion of the discharger, so that the area of the annular stratum removed by the rotating discharger will be the same as the cross-area of the superincumbent bone- ,black contained in the filtering-chamber will have a vertical path of downward movement from the top to the bottom of the filteringchamber. g

In carrying out the second part of myinvention I provide, immediately under the discharger O, the sweeper or plow H, which is composed of several sinuously-curved blades, h h, c, which may either be fastened to the under side of the discharger or be united to a central hub, h, which is keyed to the shaft G. The lower edges of the blades h h, 8m, just clear the floor of the receivingchamber, and as the shaft G rotates the bone-black and impurities therein are swept around and drop into the mouth of the conduit D, by which they may be conducted either to the bottom of a well provided with a chain-and-bucket elevator such as shown in my application No. 166,993, filed May 29, 1885, or into the collecting chamber .1, provided at the top with the shut-off valve 1, which is closed when the collecting-chamber is full of bone-black and impurities, and which is provided at the bottom with the discharge-valve I, by means of which, when necessary, its contents can be discharged.

I claim as my invention- 1. In apparatus for effecting the decolorization of sugar-liqnor by the process of upward filtration through bone-black, the combination, as herein set forth, of a cylindrical filtering-chamber, a rotating supporter and discha-rger at the bottom of and of larger dimensions than the filtering-chamber, and a central vertical columnar shield arranged within the filtering-chamber immediately above the central unslotted portion or hub of the supporter and discharger, whereby a vertical line drawn through any portion of the bone-black contained within the filtering-chamber will at its lower end necessarily intersect a part of the stratum of bone-black which is in contact with I00 the discharger and which is removed by the rotation of the discharger.

2. The combination of the fiat-bottomed receiving-chamber D and the conduit D, leading therefrom to a suitable depository, with 05 the sweeper or plow H, the filtering-chamber A, for containing a column of bone-black, and means for gradually discharging the exhausted bone-black and collected impurities from the bottom of said column into said receiving- I O chamber.

F. O. MATTHIESSEN.

WVit-nesses:

F. FERGUESEN, FRED. MnRLnNb 

